Her hand remained stubbornly on his face. Perhaps because he challenged her. Perhaps because it both seemed and felt important. Perhaps still because she simply did not wish to let go. Reinette was accustomed to knowing her own mind more.
Her only initial response was the gentle curling of her fingers against his skin. Subtly, quietly looking for her own answers.
She would be strong for Jack. Reinette was quite firm on that point and he deserved no less. But that did not make in infallible.
"Neither do I."
It was honest. Far more honest than she intended, and not even disguised as something light or flippant. But truthfully she did not know. And had she not just been demanding honesty between them?
But knowledge did come then, quick and fast if of a different sort. And completely unexpected.
She had to kiss Jack, then.
Not want to or wish to. Or kiss him because the game -- or tricks -- between them demanded it. She had to kiss him. There really was not a choice. Her fingers still beneath his chin pulled him closer by degrees so that Reinette might meet him to lift her mouth to his own. It was a great deal more than the kiss on his sofa the evening before, for all that it was a great deal less than many other embraces they had shared. But as her mouth teased gently over his own it was not the act that defined the kiss, but the thought behind it. That she had to.
Reinette pulled back then, sensing perhaps for all that it was unavoidable in her eyes it still was not the ideal moment. She disguised her own thoughts with a smile.
no subject
Her only initial response was the gentle curling of her fingers against his skin. Subtly, quietly looking for her own answers.
She would be strong for Jack. Reinette was quite firm on that point and he deserved no less. But that did not make in infallible.
"Neither do I."
It was honest. Far more honest than she intended, and not even disguised as something light or flippant. But truthfully she did not know. And had she not just been demanding honesty between them?
But knowledge did come then, quick and fast if of a different sort. And completely unexpected.
She had to kiss Jack, then.
Not want to or wish to. Or kiss him because the game -- or tricks -- between them demanded it. She had to kiss him. There really was not a choice. Her fingers still beneath his chin pulled him closer by degrees so that Reinette might meet him to lift her mouth to his own. It was a great deal more than the kiss on his sofa the evening before, for all that it was a great deal less than many other embraces they had shared. But as her mouth teased gently over his own it was not the act that defined the kiss, but the thought behind it. That she had to.
Reinette pulled back then, sensing perhaps for all that it was unavoidable in her eyes it still was not the ideal moment. She disguised her own thoughts with a smile.